


the sixth time 'round

by whimsicott



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6282409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicott/pseuds/whimsicott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Jongin’s sixth life, Chanyeol looked at him in the same way he did during their first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the sixth time 'round

**Author's Note:**

> for the_microcosms. a small sketch for my the_exordium fic

In Jongin’s sixth life, Chanyeol looked at him in the same way he did during their first. 

That first lifetime they met, five and a half cycles of birth-and-death ago. The first lifetime, back when he was Kim Jongin, a somewhat-delinquent who couldn't fit in at school and ran to cigarettes he had grown to hate and alcohol he could not longer stand. Six lifetimes ago when he first fell in love with Park Chanyeol, an overly cheerful idiotic _sunbae_ who for some reason took an interest in him when he could have taken an interest in anyone else.

The first lifetime, when they first met, when they first kiss, and when, Jongin dared to think but not to say, they first fell in love. 

In this sixth life, he was still Kim Jongin. He was always Kim Jongin. He was always born 14th of January 1994, to the same parents, in the same hospital. Again and again, remembering he had been Kim Jongin several times before. Wanting to think that at least this time around he would be a little wiser, a little smarter.

Wanting to believe he wasn't about to fall in love with Park Chanyeol yet again.

But he did. Again and again and again. He was Kim Jongin again. He fell in love with Park Chanyeol again.

Even if they didn't meet in high school this time around.

Even if Jongin wasn't even trying to find Chanyeol.

Even if, just like the second time, the third time, the fourth and the fifth, Chanyeol didn't remember Jongin.

"In the next life," Chanyeol said, smiling while looking at Jongin in that way, the same way he did during their first. "In the next life, I'm going to find you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Jongin said.

"What makes you think I can't?"

_Because you never had_ , Jongin wanted to say. _You have never remembered me._

Not in this sixth life, or their fifth, their fourth, third or second.

Jongin knew this.

Even if the way Chanyeol was looking at him, with that look, that way that was identical to how Chanyeol looked at him during their first life, almost made him want to believe.

Six lifetimes later, and Jongin still wanted to believe that next time, next time Chanyeol would remember him.

Six lifetimes later, and Jongin was still the same Kim Jongin who fell in love with Park Chanyeol.


End file.
